How to Make the Zone Cleaning Method Work for You

What is the Zone Cleaning Method?

When was the last time you cleaned your kitchen? Like, really deep cleaned your kitchen and scrubbed the baseboards and wiped down your cabinets and organized your junk drawer and cleaned your oven? The prospect of doing all that work in one room, especially when the rest of your home probably needs cleaning too, sounds daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.

By using the zone cleaning method, you devote 10-15 minutes a day to cleaning a specific zone of your house. You divide your home into 4-5 zones that make sense for you and your family and focus on each one individually. When you’re using this method, you’re taking the tasks that only need to be done sporadically and spreading them out. Instead of taking a whole day to clean your kitchen, you’re taking 10 minutes a day, for a few days every month.

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You don’t lose a weekend to deep cleaning your home, instead you spread those tasks out throughout the month.

How to Start Using the Zone Cleaning Method

If you’re wondering how to start using the zone cleaning method, the first step you need to take is to take stock of your house and what needs to be cleaned. You might take into consideration the size of the rooms, and whether some rooms are bigger projects than others. Think about whether some rooms can be grouped together and cleaned all at once. This is how you create your zones.

Some zones are only one room, like the kitchen, while another zone might encompass all the bathrooms and a laundry room. The way you choose to set up the zones in your house is entirely up to you and is typically based on your needs and how your home is laid out.

Once your 4 or 5 zones are determined, think of cleaning tasks that need to be accomplished for each room or zone. These tasks could be simple and easy to do, or involve more time and elbow grease, like cleaning an oven.

When you’ve determined your house’s zones and the list of cleaning tasks per zone, it’s time to create a calendar to help you stay on top of things. If you’ve divided your house into four zones, devote one week per month to that zone, and then move on to the next zone the following week. If you’ve chosen five zones, clean zone one on Mondays, zone two on Tuesdays, and so on. As with the zones, the way you choose to divide up your cleaning projects is entirely up to you, so long as you don’t forget to complete the day’s tasks. Making a daily to-do list can be helpful in reminding you which zone you’re cleaning.

A Sample Zone Cleaning Calendar

To get an idea of a zone cleaning calendar in action, let’s assume that you’ve divided your home into four separate cleaning zones. The home in question has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a dining room. You’ve decided to spend the first week of every month working on zone one for 15 to 20 minutes a day. The second week is for zone two, the third week for zone three, and zone four is addressed on the final week of the month.

Here’s how tasks for the zones might be assigned:

Zone One: Kitchen & Dining Room

These two rooms are worked on over the course of an entire week for about 15 to 20 minutes a day. Cleaning tasks that might be accomplished during this time could include:

• Dust.
• Declutter and organize cabinets, pantry, and fridge.
• Clean floors and baseboards: vacuum, sweep, and mop.
• Grocery shop.
• Take stock of food expiration dates.
• Refill soaps.
• Detail appliances.

Zone Two: Living Room, Foyer & Front Porch

This zone may not require as much work as the kitchen, so the amount of time you spend cleaning each day may be minimal. Since you’re handling the entryway of your house, make it organized and neat with tasks like:

• Declutter and organize.
• Dust furniture and baseboards.
• Clear cobwebs outside.
• Sweep porch, vacuum floors.
• Clear and put away any clutter.

Zone Three: All Bathrooms

With regular maintenance, keeping bathrooms clean should be easy. Some cleaning tasks might include:

• Clean and disinfect sinks, toilets, tubs, and showers.
• Wash bathmats.
• Wipe down counters.
• Clean any spots off mirrors.
• Sweep or vacuum floors, wipe down baseboards and cabinets.
• Organize cabinets and drawers.

Zone Four: All Bedrooms

The state of the bedrooms in your home may depend on whether or not you frequently have guests or if children or teens live in your home.

• Wash sheets and remake beds.
• Sweep or vacuum floors.
• Dust furniture and baseboards.
• Straighten up desks, dressers, and closets.
• Put away any clutter.

Remember, the goal is to make you feel less stressed and overwhelmed by cleaning. The zone method takes a large task and breaks it up into individual projects within each zone. Keep track of each zone’s tasks with a house cleaning checklist.